Ok, I'll admit it, one of the reasons I decided to read this book is my kids, (well, they are getting older now, but still the same,) are pirate mad. And who didn't like "Pirates of the Caribbean", and "Muppet's Treasure Island" ?
The book is a possible "prequel" to R L Stevenson's classic "Treasure Island", but is for an adult readership, not children as Stevenson's classic is.
Drake has researched the history of the time and everything rings true, without the history being "in your face".
Drake has also asked himself questions, as he explains at the end of the book such as, "How Did Long John Silver lose his leg?" The answers he came up with are very credible ones.
John Silver had never killed a man. Until now, charisma, sheer size and, when all else failed, a powerful pair of fists had been enough to see off his enemies. But on a smouldering deck off the coast of Madagascar, his cutlass has just claimed the lives of six pirates. With their comrades intent on revenge, Silver's promising career in the merchant navy looks set to come to an end ... until the pirate captain makes him an offer he can't refuse.
On the other side of the world Joseph Flint, a naval officer wronged by his superiors, plots a bloody mutiny. Strikingly handsome, but prey to sadistic tendencies, the path Flint has chosen will ultimately lead him to Silver.
Together these gentlemen of fortune forge a deadly and unstoppable partnership, steering a course through treachery and betrayal while amassing a vast fortune.
But the arrival of Selena, a beautiful runaway slave with a murderous past, triggers sexual jealousy that will turn the best of friends into sworn enemies ... and so the legend of Treasure Island begins.
(The jacket bumph)I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the line inside the dust jacket reads
"Sex, violence and swashbuckling adventure!"
I would have put them in the reverse order, as there is lots of swashbuckling adventure, some violence and not so much sex, and it doesn't dwell on the sex, it is just part of the story. Flint's sadism is well written, and to me is not overdone.
Also in Drake's afterword, he mentions that there may be other stories to tell, prior to Treasure Island
Labels: Adventure, historical fiction, John Drake
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